A LANDSCAPE.

Between me and the woods along the bay

The swallows circle through the darkling mist,

The robins breast the grass, and they divide

This solitude with me. The rippling sea

And sunset clouds, the sea gulls’ flashing flight

From looming isles beyond — I watch them now

With a new sense. Where are the swallows’ young,

And where the robins’ nests? Year after year

They hover round this ancient house, and I,

Within as heedless, saw the long years pass,

Nor ever dreamed a day like this might come —

A day when mourners go about the street

For one who always loved his fellow-men.

The windflower trembles in the woods, the sod

Is full of violets, the orchards rain

Their scented blossoms. May unfolds its leaves —

Nature's eternal mystery to renew.

Must man be less than leaf or flower, and end?

If I go hence, when this departed soul

Has left no human tie to bind me now,

When spring unfolds, and I recall his past,

Will their remembrance lead me here again,

To teach me that his spirit comes to show

That Nature is eternal for man's sake?